CHAPTER VI 



NEUTRALISATION OF THE H^MOLYTIC PROPERTIES 

 OF BASES AND OF LYSINS OF BACTERIAL ORIGIN 



THE simplest haemolytic agents are the bases and the 

 acids. Of these the bases exert an action on erythrocytes, 

 which is very similar to that of haemolysins of bacterial 

 origin. It is obvious that if we add an acid to an alkaline 

 solution until it is neutralised, its hasmolytic action will be 

 nullified. In some few cases, as for instance for oleic acid, 

 this is not true, since all the olein derivatives are haemolytic 

 agents, which salts in general are not. 



This case presents the closest analogy to the neutralisa- 

 tion of a lysin, e.g. tetanolysin, by means of its antilysin. 

 At first sight there seems to be a difference, since any 

 base is neutralised by any acid, whereas the antitetanoly- 

 sin is a perfect specificum against tetanolysin and exerts 

 no neutralising action on other lysins. But this difference 

 is more apparent than real, since we know now that the 

 acids all contain hydrogen ions which bind the hydroxyl 

 ions, common to all bases. 



It therefore seemed to Madsen and myself to promise 

 much for the elucidation of the phenomenon of neutralisa- 

 tion of lysins by their antilysins to make a comparative 

 study of the common neutralisation of a base, regarded 

 as a haemolytic agent, with that of a lysin and its anti- 

 lysin. For this purpose we made a thorough investign- 



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